


Never Discussed But Silently Acknowledged

by Independence1776



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Courting Rituals, Multi, Planet Tatooine (Star Wars), marriage of convenience turns into more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27882226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Independence1776/pseuds/Independence1776
Summary: After two years on Tatooine, Ben Kenobi is generally considered well worth the effort to court due to his clear ability to take care of himself alone in the desert. Beru and Owen make their opinion clear.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Owen Lars/Beru Whitesun
Comments: 18
Kudos: 125
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020





	Never Discussed But Silently Acknowledged

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SassySnowperson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassySnowperson/gifts).



> This was written for SassySnowperson for Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020. I thought I'd have a hard time choosing what to write for you, but this prompt bit my ankle and wouldn't let go.

Beru swung the speeder bike around the column of rock at the base of the path to the cliff Kenobi had built his hut on top of. He’d chosen the spot deliberately, she knew, as a good ambush point if someone came from the desert. An airborne attack would be far more difficult to defend against, but he’d see it coming. Knowing him, he had an escape route planned for that, too.

The path was just wide enough for the Lars landspeeder, something neither Ben nor she had ever discussed but silently acknowledged. Owen occasionally grumbled still, so her visiting alone was simply easier than both of them coming out here together. But the path had been built for them both.

Of course, that meant other enterprising people had realized that the handsome, competent hermit was reachable. Ben refused to discuss it, namely by trying to behave like a cranky wizard when disturbed, but Beru went into town often enough to know the gossip and who had their sights set on him. She smiled when she saw the Darklighters’ swoop parked in front of the hut. But this was the first time she’d stumbled upon someone trying to court him.

The door slid open and Cleena stepped out, her dark gray split skirt swishing around her ankles. “Until next time, Ben.”

Ben simply stared at her from the doorway. Beru slid off her speeder, untied the pot of bantha cheese, and paused halfway there when Cleena smiled as she passed. “You two after him, too? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Beru shrugged. “We weren’t sure we wanted to until recently.” There. That would satisfy the gossip machine back in Anchorhead.

“He refuses to be pinned down, he’s that good with words.” Cleena grinned. “That’s half the fun.”

Beru shook her head. “We’ll see,” she said and continued on her way. Ben stepped out of the doorway and let her into the small house.

She handed him the pot and sat down on the lone chair. She was over here often enough that she didn’t stick with the formal hospitality rules and Ben knew how much water to pour into her glass without asking.

“What is this?”

“A little extra bantha cheese.” She tilted her head at the wild-eyed look Ben would be able to hide from anyone who didn’t know him. “What’s wrong?”

“Cleena Darklighter is the third visitor I’ve had this week.”

Ben disappeared into the storage room built into the rock underneath the house. Beru sat back in her chair. Sometimes she forgot Ben wasn’t native to Tatooine, he blended in so well. That was partly due to his upbringing, she knew. Jedi were raised to be observant and to take care of themselves in the field. The other part was that he had to blend in simply to survive.

Beru waited until Ben sat in front of her, rather than surprise him while he poured her water. He handed the half-full glass to her and she sipped it once before setting it on the table. He looked less strained around the eyes now. She supposed he’d taken the time in the basement putting away the jar to center himself. He’d explained a bit about that a few months after his arrival when Luke was having problems teething and driving both Owen and herself spare.

“You’ve been here a couple of years, Ben. You set up this household and are as self-sufficient as it is possible for a hermit to be. That makes you, by our culture’s standards, someone worth courting.”

Ben stared at her and then buried his face in a hand. “Seriously?”

Beru shrugged. “Tatooine is a harsh world. Having a spouse or two who you know won’t slack off is a night-sent blessing.”

“Owen and yourself aren’t courting me.” He dropped his hand from his face.

She shrugged. “We knew you wanted to be left alone and we respect that.”

“Is it possible for hermits to exist here?”

The plaintive note in his voice made her smile in sympathy. “Yes, but it takes a while for the message to sink in. You’ll have a few more years of visitors dropping in.”

“ _Years_?”

“Years,” she confirmed with a nod. “Half of the gossip in Anchorhead right now is who will be lucky enough to bring you into their household.”

“That… is not good.”

For Luke’s safety, no, it wasn’t. Who would court Ben was a topic that had come up with more frequency as it became clear Ben would survive on his own for the two years custom required. But even she hadn’t expected the vigor some had taken to courting him with. She shook her head.

“Is there anything I can do to stop it?”

“I need to talk with Owen about this, but… Cleena saw me coming in here with a jar of food. That could mean you’re considering our suit.”

“They don’t need to know you’re over here every couple of weeks anyway,” he said with a smile, a little of the stress leaving his posture. He glanced around the hut. “How long would I have to formally accept?”

“As long as you need, Ben,” she said. She finished the water and stood. “I should return home. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer to discuss this.”

Ben smiled crookedly. “I suspect I’ll be dropping in on my way back from Anchorhead in a couple of days.”

She smiled. “It would certainly help the gossip. I’ll make sure Owen’s around so we can discuss things.”

Ben nodded and she showed herself out.

*****

Owen stared at her over the top of his mug and lowered it to the side table with a sigh. “You want Ben Kenobi to live here.” They’d put Luke to bed for the night and settled down in the cozy family room, Beru curled up on the couch and Owen sitting on the straight-backed chair he preferred.

“I know you’ve heard the gossip, Owen.”

“He wants to be a crazy hermit in the desert. Let him.” He leaned back in his chair. “I won’t have him here, filling Luke’s head with nonsense about life in the rest of the galaxy.”

“If a bounty hunter or Imperial agent catches wind of gossip about a hermit in the desert who came here after the Purge…” She deliberately didn’t finish the sentence.

“Fine,” he humphed. “For Luke’s sake. But I won’t allow Kenobi to teach him to use the Force.”

“He doesn’t need to. That would draw far more attention than anything else we could do, I think. But I want him to know his people’s ways. You’ve heard the stories as well as I have: that being Jedi meant compassion and selfless love and doing what they could to help and knowing when to let go. We’re teaching Luke that anyway.”

“What was it Shmi used to say, that one can stop the change no more than one can stop the suns from setting? Something like that.” Owen took a swig from his mug. “Fine. You’re right. To protect Luke, we need Ben here. And he’s one more set of hands to keep Luke from getting into trouble.”

“Ben’s stopping by tomorrow,” Beru said, standing and picking her own mug up. “We can tell him then.”

“What if he says no?” Owen said, reaching over and taking the mug from her hand. Well, if he wanted to do the cleaning up tonight, let him.

“Then he says no and we deal with what comes. Maybe the interest will die down; maybe it won’t.”

“And maybe the Empire hears about Kenobi and comes after him and us.” Owen shook his head. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Beru smiled. “No more than you do. We’ll figure it out together, the three of us.”

*****

Ben didn’t have many belongings, so with the use of the maintenance landspeeder they used to haul vaporators around on, it was the work of a few hours to move him to the farm and install him in the bedroom next to Luke’s. Luke was kept out of the way by virtue of having been dropped off at the Darklighters’ for the day. Cleena mostly kept the teasing smirk off her face.

Once Ben was moved in, he stood in the center of the courtyard, hands jammed into his robe’s sleeves. “How long do we have until we need to officialize the marriage?”

Beru frowned. “About three months. Any longer, people will start talking.”

“As if they ever stopped.” He pulled one hand out of his sleeves and stroked his beard. “Three months. I assume there’s a ceremony involved?”

“It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like,” Owen said, stepping into the suns-lit courtyard from the passage to the garage. “Personally, I’m fine with signing the register and being done with it. No need to be sentimental.”

Beru narrowed her eyes slightly. Owen was right… and wrong. “We need to have a celebratory dinner with my family and our friends. Beyond that, a simple signing is fine. Ben?”

He nodded. “Anything else would make a mockery of what we’re doing.” He glanced up at the blue sky and she couldn’t read his expression for the life of her. He glanced at her and smiled. “I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I didn’t feel it was the right thing to do.”

She nodded. “Then I suppose we have some planning to do. Cleena won’t return Luke for another couple of hours. Now’s the best time.” She turned and walked into the dining room, hearing both men’s feet crossing the courtyard to join her.

*****

Three months later, the register signing in Anchorhead had gone off without a hitch— and no questions asked. It was the Tatooine way; who someone chose to marry was their own business. The gossip about the Lars’ gaining Kenobi’s skills would die down in a short enough while, too; Ben was mostly a subject of gossip because of his eligibility rather than anything else. Tatooine was used to people fleeing here, for whatever reasons they had.

The feast in the Lars’ courtyard broke up an hour before suns-set to give everyone a chance to safely reach home. Beru’s mother had agreed to take Luke for a week— a fate the two-year-old was ecstatic about— leaving the newlyweds some time to themselves despite the never-ending farm work. No one could know just how much of a fiction the marriage was.

Beru glanced side-long at Ben, wishing it was otherwise. To her surprise, he met her eyes with a gleam in his own. _Oh_. Maybe… She looked at Owen, who nodded once. Well, then. Beru squared her shoulders and said, “Do you want to come to bed, Obi-Wan?”

He took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”


End file.
